Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies

Staff MemberOverlord

The 5th Ace Attorney game is getting a confirmed Western release across Europe and America this autumn on the 3DS.

But, there is a small catch. The game will only be available digitally through the eShop outside of Japan.

Capcom's reasoning is thus:

“Historically it’s been tough to attract long term retail support for Ace Attorney titles. With the release of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies we wanted as many people as possible to be able to enjoy the game for as long as possible. With that in mind we have opted for a digital only release via the Nintendo 3DS eShop.

"We understand that this decision may upset fans who wanted to have a physical version of the title to add to their collection but we believe this direction is the best to take to ensure that fans are able to enjoy the game at their own leisure.

"We will be confirming details on the price point soon so please stay tuned for more information on the latest in the Ace Attorney series.”

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Which is, yeah, yet another cop out excuse from Capcom about how the fact they won't support the retail releases of the games outside of Japan is everyone else's fault - BUT - at the very least, it does mean we get the game. And in a timely fashion, too - it's only out in Japan a few months ahead of us.

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I'm okay with this decision. If card space is an issue then 8-16GB SD cards are fairly cheap to purchase and the process of transferring 3DS data from one SD card to another is largely painless (assuming folks have access to a PC/laptop that can read SD cards). The only people who'd truly have a problem with the digital-only decision are those who lack WiFi access which, to be fair, is basically mandatory these days for handheld gamers anyways.

Knowing that the game will be available on the eShop makes me happy because I won't need to rush purchase it. I'm kiiiiinda behind with my Phoenix Wright gaming... as in, never beat the second game and haven't played any since it. I fully intend to get caught up with the series at some point, just no clue when. :x

Staff MemberOverlord

The only people who'd truly have a problem with the digital-only decision are those who lack WiFi access which, to be fair, is basically mandatory these days for handheld gamers anyways.

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I disagree. Having issue with this decision is entirely warranted given the platform they've made this decision on. If this were Steam, or even Xbox Live, iOS or Google Play, I'd be completely satisfied. It's not though, it's on the Nintendo 3DS.

On the 3DS, your digital purchases, as they are on the Wii, and as they are on the Wii U, are tied specifically to your system. Not to an account as is the standard, but to the system. You lose your 3DS? Tough, game gone. 3DS dies on you? Oh well, will just have to buy it again (and another 3DS to boot). The 3DS becomes obsolete and Nintendo marches on with another system? Well, you can maybe transfer your game over to it... for a price...

I'm playing through all the existing Ace Attorney games right now because none of that bullshit is the case for those. 5 years from now, it's unlikely I'll be able to do the same for Dual Destinies. And that fucking sucks.

There's also the fact that you no longer have a physical product to go along with your other physical products, so your collection is buggered (but, really, Capcom already ruined that the day they failed to localise AAI2, so it's an annoyance rather than a major problem).

But finally, there's also the fact that the prices on the eShop are a total rip off and having no choice but to effectively endorse that is unfair. 3DS games should not be £40, and no-one in their right mind would pay that for a physical copy they can get for at least £10 less. The sheer concept that a digital release should cost the end user more money than a copy that has to be physically printed, packed, shipped and sold is crazy - and just amounts to greed on the part of the publisher (and Nintendo). Again, this is a logic that all the other storefronts (more or less) have cottoned onto, but Nintendo stubbornly ignore.

Making this a digital only release is a disastrous move that is only alleviated by the fact that at least we're getting the game at all. But that's a ridiculous position that we're only in because Capcom have artificially crippled the franchise at retail since its American release. They seem to want the games to fail in the West. That assertion may be utterly insane and completely unlikely for anyone else, but Capcom's the same company that's been going around actively putting down their own franchise in Mega Man purely because its creator (completely rightly) called them out for failing to grow and adapt as Western studios have to the expanded market, and quit.

I'll get the game. I'll probably pay whatever stupid price they ask for it for (although if I can get it cheaper by buying the code for it from GAME, I will) and I'll probably buy the ridiculous 'on-card' DLC that's due for it, too. But that doesn't stop all of the above reasons for why this being a digital only release is a terrible idea and why I'll inevitably have to regret it. Probably around the time I want to play all the games through again as I am right now and this game has long since been made unavailable to me.

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You kinda took my post completely out of context, Alex. When I said the only people who'd "truly have a problem" with this game being digital only were those who lack WiFi, I was referring specifically to availability, not the ins and outs of Nintendo's eShop silliness. For people in that situation, those who lack WiFi, they can't even get the game. We still can, even if it is a less than ideal situation. That's all I meant.

However, in response to your post, pricing of retail eShop titles is ridiculous, as is having the game tied directly to your handheld, but the latter is something Nintendo claims to be working on. Even if they're not actually doing so, the issue of longevity is not likely as big an issue as you're making it out to be (assuming you don't break or lose your 3DS in the meantime). There's no guarantee that your original DS games will work on Nintendo's next handheld but, going by their recent pattern, 3DS games most likely will. Considering that we were able to transfer our DSi software to the 3DS I'd be very surprised if we weren't able to do the same with Nintendo's next generation handheld too. That would mean that, yes, you will still have the game available to you in five years, you just wouldn't be able to port it back to your 3DS.

I understand your grievances and agree with them for the most part, but I stand by my earlier comment. I'm okay with this decision. Maybe it's not as huge an issue for me because I'm not dead-set on collecting physical games anymore, nor have the same pricing issues as you in North America (our retail games tend to cost the same as the eShop titles), but mostly I'm just happy to be getting the game at all by a method that's easy to access. Worst case scenario if your current 3DS breaks? Rebuy the game. At least you know it'll always be available on this iteration of the eShop. The same couldn't necessarily be said for retail copies when Capcom keeps shafting the series. :/

Obviously the ideal situation would be to have them release both the physical and digital copies of this, but I'll take what I can get.

Staff MemberAdministrator

The same couldn't necessarily be said for retail copies when Capcom keeps shafting the series. :/

Obviously the ideal situation would be to have them release both the physical and digital copies of this, but I'll take what I can get.

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This is the salient point here, really. There might be some incredible bullshittery going on with the eShop, the fact that this game is digital-only, etcetera, and I can't disagree with any of it - £40 for a 3DS game is criminal, for just one example.

But all of that doesn't really detract from the fact that we're seeing a timely localisation of this game in both Europe and the US - a luxury not afforded to Trials and Tribulations or Apollo Justice, which were released out of order and very late in Europe. As Alex noted, we never saw Ace Attorney Investigations 2 at all. Before this announcement, there was a very real possibility that Capcom would simply not bother to release AA5 in the West, and if they did, we wouldn't see it for literally years after the Japanese release. For a company so committed to forcing this particular franchise into irrelevance in the West, even a digital release is a big deal. And I'm very, very excited for it.

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